Posts by utahafp
Community Based Fall Prevention….One Hip At A Time! | Liz Joy, MD, MPH, FACSM, FAMSSM
Dr. Liz Joy is the Senior Medical Director for Wellness and Nutrition at Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City, UT. Dr. Joy practices Family Medicine and Sports Medicine at the Salt Lake LiVe Well Center. She is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Utah School of Medicine in the Department of Family and…
Read MoreWhat Family Physicians Should Know About Vaping | Thomas Ylioja, MSW, PhD
Thomas Ylioja, PhD, is the Clinical Director for Health Initiatives at National Jewish Health. He is a licensed social worker with years of health care practice and research experience, and expertise working with individuals who use tobacco and other substances. Dr. Ylioja focuses his work with people who have health disparities or who have social…
Read MoreUtah Legislative Wrap-up: COVID, Collaboration, and Compromise
By Darlene Petersen, MD and Maryann Martindale, UAFP Executive Director This year’s session was very different from previous years. With COVID still in full swing and very few people vaccinated, the legislature opted for a hybrid version of the session. Committees that were typically held in small rooms were moved to larger spaces, all committees…
Read MoreUtah’s Statewide Mask Mandate to End April 10
With the passage of HB 294, Utah’s statewide mask mandate will end April 10, 2021. While not fully supported by Governor Cox, he will likely sign it as the bill passed with a veto-proof majority. Masks will still be mandated for gatherings of 50 or more and County governments can still impose their own mandates. Other restrictions can be…
Read MoreA Legacy of Public Health Leadership by Utah Family Physicians
Utah Academy of Family Physicians congratulates two members and leaders, Dr. Marc Babitz and Dr. Sarah Woolsey, for their public health leadership in Utah. Dr. Babitz will retire from the Utah Department of Health after a lengthy career of service to the community and family medicine profession. Dr. Babitz has had a prolific career in…
Read MoreUtah’s Governor Asked for My Help, and I am Glad to Give It
In his weekly COVID-19 press briefing on Thursday, Governor Spencer Cox called on medical professionals to volunteer to assist with Utah’s ongoing vaccination effort. As of Friday, 489,716 doses had been administered, which leaves hundreds of thousands of doses left to administer over the next several months. If the state receives the amount of vaccinations…
Read MoreChildren’s Hearing Aid Program (CHAP)
Children learn so much by hearing. Early growth of the brain in the first few years of life cannot be made up later. To develop the auditory part of the brain and spoken language, a child must hear his or her best all day long, every day. The Joint Commission on Infant Hearing and the…
Read MoreCOVID-19 Vaccine News in Utah
Updated as of 1/15/21 More details come out at the state level regularly about how the COVID-19 vaccine will continue to be distributed over the next few months. NATIONAL NEWS AP News – Anger in states over pace of COVID-19 vaccine allotments New York Times –Who gets priority? Patchwork U.S. vaccination policies create uncertainty. New York Times –…
Read MoreCOVID-19 Vaccine Updates
The COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer has started to find its way into the arms of physicians in Utah and around the country and the Moderna vaccine is not far behind. You likely saw news coverage and social media posts of some of your colleagues who work with the larger healthcare providers receiving their first of…
Read MoreE&M Summary Now Available
On December 1, 2020, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the 2021 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) final rule, along with the CMS fact sheet. The final MPFS confirmed changes for office-based Evaluation and Management (E/M) services will go into effect as planned, as well as implementing the previously finalized add-on code (formerly known…
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